Shootouts

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti Custom Card Shootout

By Wong Chung Wee - 10 Mar 2014

Custom GeForce GTX 750 Ti Offerings - ASUS, Gigabyte and Palit

Custom GeForce GTX 750 Ti Offerings

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti, featuring the new first generation Maxwell graphics core, was launched last month. With this new entry, NVIDIA aims to deliver 1080p gaming (at least most of the time), with optimal performance per watt, from a bottom-up approach. To reiterate, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti will replace the budget Kepler-based GeForce GTX 650 Ti. Since we've established how the new GPU performs, we move on to check out what NVIDIA's partners have to offer and hopefully better what we've experienced on the reference card.

The overclocked versions of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti cards from ASUS, Gigabyte and Palit respectively.


ASUS GeForce GTX 750 Ti OC 2GB GDDR5

The ASUS GeForce GTX 750 Ti OC card boasts of a slightly overclocked GM107 core. It is rated to perform with a base clock speed of 1072MHz (higher than the default of 1020MHz), and can be boosted up to 1150MHz. It boasts of VRM components with the Super Alloy Power brand name, and features a pair of dust-proof cooling fans.

The ASUS GeForce GTX 750 Ti OC has a base clock of 1020MHz, and a boost clock of 1150MHz.

 

The PCB of the card measures 174mm; in comparison, the reference GeForce GTX 750 Ti's one measures just 144mm. Therefore, we can assume that ASUS has used its customized PCB for the card's construct. Further to that, the reference GeForce GTX 750 Ti design does away with any power connectors, but this ASUS card has a single 6-pin Molex power connector, which we presume is to supplement its overclocked state and perhaps help it overclock better. From its rear bracket to the edge of its fan cooler, the ASUS card measures 213mm in length.

The length of the ASUS' card PCB is 174mm, 30mm longer than the PCB of the reference GeForce GTX 750 Ti. What's weirder is that the power connector is located towards the I/O faceplate, which is quite unconventional.

For its video connectivity options, the card has two dual-link DVI-D connectors, one HDMI port, and a D-Sub one.

 There are two dual-link DVI-D connectors. The other options include a HDMI port and a D-Sub one.

 

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 750 Ti Windforce OC

The Gigabyte GeForce GTX 750 Ti Windforce OC card features the familiar Windforce cooling system, with its signature skeleton thin fan shroud. Its pair of 90mm PWM fans provides cooling to its overclocked GM107 core that is rated at 1033MHz, with a boost clock of 1111MHz. In addition, the card sports Gigabyte's Ultra Durable 2 VRM components.

The Gigabyte GeForce GTX 750 Ti Windforce OC features the Windforce cooling system.

Like the reference GeForce GTX 750 Ti, the Gigabyte card has a PCB of similar length at 144mm, but the cooler unit of the card extends the overall length of the card to 188mm. We can assume that the Gigabyte's card features the same PCB as the reference GeForce GTX 750 Ti. Like the ASUS card, it too draws additional power from a 6-pin Molex PCIe connector.

The PCB of the Gigabyte card measures 144mm in length, and has its signature light blue hue.

The video ports consists of two dual-link DVI connectors; one DVI-D, and the other is DVI-I. On top of that, there is also a pair of HDMI ports.

There are a pair of HDMI ports, and two dual-link DVI connectors; one is DVI-D, and the other is DVI-I.

 

Palit GeForce GTX 750 Ti StormX Dual

Rounding up our mini comparison is the Palit GeForce GTX 750 Ti StormX Dual. The Palit card features the GM107 GPU with the highest overclock speed of 1202MHz, and a boost speed rated at 1281MHz. Also, it boasts of an improved PWM design, with quality components to boot. Interestingly, it doesn't need any additional power and hence there are no PCIe power connectors on this card.

 

The rear of the card reveals a PCB, also most likely of reference design, with a length of 144mm, just like the Gigabyte card. We can see the vents which allow some of the hot air to be expelled by one of the cooling fans. The card measures 217mm in length; 4mm longer than the ASUS card.

The Palit card has a mini-HDMI port, a DVI-D connector, and a D-Sub port. In comparison, the reference GeForce GTX 750 Ti card features a pair of dual-link DVI connectors, and a mini-HDMI port. Palit's configuration of outputs is the least favorable considering it's now the year 2014. However, it's the only card that has an entire expansion slot dedicated to exhausting heat from the card; we'll soon find out if that helps its temperature performance.

There is a mini-HDMI port, a DVI-D connector, and a D-Sub port.


Here’s a table showing how all the tested cards measure up against other recent comparable graphics cards.

Custom NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti Overlclocked Cards compared
  ASUS GeForce GTX 750 Ti OC Gigabyte GeForce GTX 750 Ti Windforce OC Palit GeForce GTX 750 Ti StormX Dual NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti
  ASUS GeForce GTX 750 Ti OC Gigabyte GeForce GTX 750 Ti Windforce OC Palit GeForce GTX 750 Ti StormX Dual NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti
Core Code
  • GM107
  • GM107
  • GM107
  • GM107
  • GK106
  • GK106
GPU Transistor Count
  • 1.87 billion
  • 1.87 billion
  • 1.87 billion
  • 1.87 billion
  • 2.54 Billion
  • 2.54 billion
Manufacturing Process
  • 28nm
  • 28nm
  • 28nm
  • 28nm
  • 28nm
  • 28nm
Core Clock
  • 1072MHz (Boost Clock: 1150MHz)
  • 1033MHz (Boost Clock: 1111MHz)
  • 1202MHz (Boost Clock: 1281MHz)
  • 1020MHz (Boost Clock: 1085MHz)
  • 980MHz
  • 925MHz
Stream Processors
  • 640
  • 640
  • 640
  • 640
  • 960 CUDA cores
  • 768 CUDA cores
Stream Processor Clock
  • 1072MHz
  • 1033MHz
  • 1202MHz
  • 1020MHz
  • 980MHz
  • 925MHz
Texture Mapping Units (TMUs)
  • 40
  • 40
  • 40
  • 40
  • 80
  • 64
Raster Operator units (ROP)
  • 16
  • 16
  • 16
  • 16
  • 24
  • 16
Memory Clock (DDR)
  • 5400MHz DDR
  • 5400MHz DDR
  • 6008MHz DDR
  • 5400MHz DDR
  • 6008MHz DDR
  • 5400MHz
Memory Bus width
  • 128-bit
  • 128-bit
  • 128-bit
  • 128-bit
  • 192-bit
  • 128-bit
Memory Bandwidth
  • 86.4GB/s
  • 86.4GB/s
  • 96.1GB/s
  • 86.4GB/s
  • 144.2GB/s
  • 86.4GB/s
PCI Express Interface
  • PCIe ver 3.0 x16
  • PCIe ver 3.0 x16
  • PCIe ver 3.0 x16
  • PCIe ver 3.0 x16
  • PCIe v3.0 x16
  • PCIe v3.0 x16
Power Connectors
  • 1 x 6-pin
  • None
  • None
  • None
  • 1 x six-pin Molex PCIe power connector
  • 1 x 6-pin PCIe
Multi GPU Technology
  • Not supported
  • Not supported
  • Not supported
  • Not supported
  • SLI
  • Not supported
DVI Outputs
  • 2 x DVI-D
  • 1 x DVI-D, 1 x DVI-I
  • 1 x DVI-D
  • 1 x DVI-D, 1 x DVI-I
  • 1 x DVI-I, 1 x DVI-D
  • 2 x dual-link DVI-D
HDMI Outputs
  • 1
  • 1
  • 1 x mini-HDMI
  • 1
  • 1
  • 1 x mini-HDMI
HDCP Output Support
  • Yes
  • Yes
  • Yes
  • Yes
DisplayPort Outputs
  • 1

 

Test Setup

These are the specifications of our graphics testbed:

  • Intel Core i7-3960X (3.3GHz)
  • ASUS P9X79 Pro (Intel X79 chipset) Motherboard
  • 4 x 2GB DDR3-1600 G.Skill Ripjaws Memory
  • Seagate 7200.10 200GB SATA hard drive (OS)
  • Western Digital Caviar Black 7200 RPM 1TB SATA hard drive (Benchmarks + Games)
  • Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit

In addition to fielding the reference GeForce GTX 750 Ti card, we also included the GeForce GTX 660 and the GeForce GTX 650 Ti cards. For the last two cards, we had to emulate their latest performances by downclocking the MSI GeForce GTX 660 Twin Frozr III OC 2GB GDDR5 and Gigabyte GTX 650 Ti 1GB GDDR5 respectively.  In any case, the figures are for reference purposes to give you an idea how these competitive older generation cards compare.

  • ASUS GeForce GTX 750 Ti OC 2GB GDDR5 (ForceWare 334.69)
  • Gigabyte GeForce GTX 750 Ti Windforce OC 2GB GDDR5 (ForceWare 334.69)
  • Palit GeForce GTX 750 Ti StormX Dual 2GB GDDR5 (ForceWare 334.69)
  • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB GDDR5 (ForceWare 334.69)
  • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 2GB GDDR5 (ForceWare 334.69)
  • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti 1GB GDDR5 (ForceWare 334.69)


Note 1: In temperature and power consumption comparisons, the results for the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti gathered from the actual reference card tested much earlier. Please refer to our reviews for the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti. For the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660, we don't have any results from a reference card; hence, we took both power and temperature readings from our downclocked MSI GeForce GTX 660 Twin Frozr III OC 2GB GDDR5.

 

Benchmarks

Here's the full list of benchmarks that we'll be using for our assessment; we would have included Crysis 3, but the technical glitch still persisted. On the other hand, we managed to put all the cards listed above through our new gaming benchmark, Call of Duty: Ghosts. Since the full performance aspects of the GeForce GTX 750 Ti have been assessed previously, we'll only be using a subset of benchmarks in this roundup article:-

  • Futuremark 3DMark 2013
  • Call of Duty: Ghosts

For our temperature and power consumption tests, 3DMark 2011 was used.

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